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BARROW AFC assistant manager Ashley Hoskin blasted his side “not good enough” as they sunk to the bottom of the Blue Square Bet Premier table.

AGONY: Shaun Pearson is beaten for Hereford’s first goal after he came on as a substitute last week HARRY ATKINSON REF: 50042134B006

A 2-0 home defeat against Hereford United live on television sent the Bluebirds, who lost first-choice keeper Danny Hurst to a suspected finger dislocation, crashing to the foot of the standings ahead of today’s remaining weekend fixtures.

“It was not good enough, not good enough at all,” said Hoskin, speaking after last night’s game.

“We are 21 league games into the season now and we keep making the same mistakes.

“It’s not good enough for the supporters, it’s not good enough for me and Dave (Bayliss) as the management team and if the players think that it is good enough then they are very wrong.”

The Bluebirds, who struggled for creativity in the final third of the pitch all night, fell behind in first half stoppage-time when they gifted Josh O’Keefe a free header.

Hereford striker Ryan Bowman then secured the visitors all three points with a strike 12 minutes from the end.

Hoskin said: “On the training pitch we work hard on getting the ball into the box but the players then seem to go out there in matches and do their own thing.

“Yes, we do shift it and pass it around but we need to be better in the final third.

“I feel a bit sorry for Boyesy (central striker Adam Boyes), who works his socks off but he doesn’t get any service.

“At both ends of the pitch we keep making mistakes. Again tonight, for their first goal, we have switched off when defending.

“It means you have to look at personnel. We have spoken to them in the dressing room and been dead honest. Both me and Bayles say it how it is. Come January, the lads have been given a chance with the shirts and they have not been not good enough.”

He added: “The bottom line is that we are where we are in the table for a reason.

“I’m going to go through every single game this season and write down all the goals conceded. Then before training on Monday I’m going to sit them all down and go through every single goal.

“I can’t remember seeing us concede a good goal where you would say ‘you can’t defend against that’. A lot of them have come from mistakes.”

Barrow handed a debut to 19-year-old centre-half Neill Byrne, who is on loan from Rochdale.

Hoskin said of Byrne’s performance: “He didn’t win enough headers, for me. That in turn doesn’t allow you as a team to get up the pitch.

“Look at Hereford’s two centre-halves tonight. They were nothing fancy, did nothing special but you ask Boyesy – he never gets a free header or a free chance. He gets shoved, kicked, punched, elbowed. We are too nice, all over the pitch we are too nice as a football team.”

Hurst had to come off after just 23 minutes when he suffered a finger injury that required a trip to hospital. He now looks set to miss Tuesday’s big FA Cup second round home clash against Macclesfield Town. Midfielder Garry Hunter, who totted up his fifth yellow card last night, will definitely miss the cup tie through suspension.

Hoskin said: “It looks like Danny has dislocated his finger, I think I might be right in saying in at least two places.

“He’s come for a cross and the ball has hit him on the end of the finger. It popped out straight away. It doesn’t look good and he’s up at hospital now.

“Looking ahead to Tuesday, I’m not sure what the rules are as regards fetching keepers in but where do you get one at such a late stage anyway?

“And we all know what happened last time we didn’t have a keeper on the bench – Hursty got knocked out and we finished up with right-back Flynny in goal. We need to get something sorted before Tuesday.”

* Barrow were replaced at the foot of the table on Saturday afternoon by Nuneaton, following their 6-1 defeat at Wrexham.